The Official Japanese GP Chat + Predictions

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Who will become the new emperor of Japan?

  • Fernando Alonso (194)

    Votes: 4 12.9%

  • Sebastian Vettel (165)

    Votes: 7 22.6%

  • Kimi Raikkonen (149)

    Votes: 3 9.7%

  • Lewis Hamilton (142)

    Votes: 16 51.6%

  • Mark Webber (132)

    Votes: 1 3.2%

  • Jenson Button (119)

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Nico Rosberg (93)

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Romain Grosjean (82)

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Sergio Perez (66)

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Other.. IE. Massa/Maldonado...

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    31
  • Poll closed .
Well with Red Bulls best track out of the way while Ferarri, Lotus slipping back and there's no reason to think McLaren will suddenly lose pace now. Not to mention that Jenson has a grid penalty so its surely impossible to see past Hamilton bar a disaster.
 
Julius Caesar said:
Well with Red Bulls best track out of the way while Ferarri, Lotus slipping back and there's no reason to think McLaren will suddenly lose pace now. Not to mention that Jenson has a grid penalty so its surely impossible to see past Hamilton bar a disaster.
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Rumour going about that the RB8 will be upgraded enough to be able to beat the McLaren (by milliseconds) with the data they collected with these new parts. *Again a rumour*
 
Gone for Raikkonen. Hamilton will probably get pole and run away with it, but something is bound to go wrong with his car or in the pits...
 
SilverArrow said:
Rumour going about that the RB8 will be upgraded enough to be able to beat the McLaren (by milliseconds) with the data they collected with these new parts. *Again a rumour*
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Well Red Bull and Ferrari are due big upgrades, don't forget that McLaren after Britain admitted that they were two races behind in terms of development, Seb needs a upgrade similar to what JB and Lewis got in Germany if he wants a third title
 
StoneRosesRam said:
Well Red Bull and Ferrari are due big upgrades, don't forget that McLaren after Britain admitted that they were two races behind in terms of development, Seb needs a upgrade similar to what JB and Lewis got in Germany if he wants a third title
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Don't forget Newey was pissing half a season away just by sorting out the rear of the RB8 out so it would actually work <wah>
 
I'm not 100% sure, and i'm sure Forza knows, but isn't this Ferrari's "best" track of the remaining ones? They seem to be good on high downforce tracks (Alonso came 2nd in both Spain/Britain and led both) so it's fair to assume he should be on the podium!
 
Fred! said:
I'm not 100% sure, and i'm sure Forza knows, but isn't this Ferrari's "best" track of the remaining ones? They seem to be good on high downforce tracks (Alonso came 2nd in both Spain/Britain and led both) so it's fair to assume he should be on the podium!
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Yeah this is probably Ferrari's strongest circuit of the remaining six, though they should be strong everywhere apart from Abu Dhabi and maybe Korea.
 
Fred! said:
I'm not 100% sure, and i'm sure Forza knows, but isn't this Ferrari's "best" track of the remaining ones? They seem to be good on high downforce tracks (Alonso came 2nd in both Spain/Britain and led both) so it's fair to assume he should be on the podium!
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Not with those rotating wings by McLaren and Red Bull there not!

Alonso must be thinking 4th-5th is a very likely position this weekend if these front wings are as fantastic as they make out. In this situation I think Alonso would be very happy if he could get 3rd with the upgrades his rivals have got now.

Example before and after Rotating wing for McLaren: Bold = Pole.

Canada to Germany, best results: Can:1st//Val:8th//GB:8th//Ger:2nd
Hungary to Singapore, best results: Hun:1st//Spa:1st//Ita:1st//Sing:2nd

That is a silver bullet if I ever saw one.
 
sea-man said:
7:00 AM start lol

That will be fun, I work in a nightclub on saturday nights and get home on Sundays at 4:00 AM.
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I am off to Dallas on Sunday first flight being at 7 am...Guernsey to gatwick. So I have signed up to get BBC iplayer abroad...hope it works.

Think Lewis has something to prove and the contract negotiations are done...he will 110% focused. So with the wings too I think he is the man on Sunday. I also think Jenson will race hard and do well but not win...he too may want to prove something.
 
Giedo van der Garde to drive Kovalainens car on friday. This has sparked suggestion that Kovalainen is on the way out of Caterham
 
I know Kovalainen was replaced by Rossi in FP1 in Barcelona, so maybe it's nothing. But I remember seeing rumours that Petrov didn't have the support for next season so his seat was in doubt, so it'd make sense to me to replace Petrov unless Kovalainen was on the move.

Edit: Actually, more on that from Caterham themselves:

Caterham on Facebook said:
Giedo's in Heikki's car for FP1 tomorrow, the first of four more drives he'll do this year in Korea, India, Abu Dhabi and Brazil. He'll be in Vitaly's car in Korea and then swap between cars until Brazil.

Vitaly's had to miss this afternoon's autograph session as he's arrived in Japan with a cold so we've sent him back to his hotel to rest so he's fine for tomorrow - we're not expecting any problems so he'll be set for FP1.
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If he's got a cold, why not swap around for FP1 and give him longer to recover? Seems an odd choice, but nothing significant. However, Giedo getting more time in the car could be an indication that he's in the frame for next season, I don't remember them announcing this before, so to suddenly decide to give him 4 FP1 sessions (and no more to Rossi) might indicate he's in the frame for 2013.
 
DHCanary said:
I know Kovalainen was replaced by Rossi in FP1 in Barcelona, so maybe it's nothing. But I remember seeing rumours that Petrov didn't have the support for next season so his seat was in doubt, so it'd make sense to me to replace Petrov unless Kovalainen was on the move.

Edit: Actually, more on that from Caterham themselves:



If he's got a cold, why not swap around for FP1 and give him longer to recover? Seems an odd choice, but nothing significant. However, Giedo getting more time in the car could be an indication that he's in the frame for next season, I don't remember them announcing this before, so to suddenly decide to give him 4 FP1 sessions (and no more to Rossi) might indicate he's in the frame for 2013.
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thanks for that. I guess this is not a big deal then. I still think caterham will have 2 new drivers next year. Vitali has already pulled out of negotiations for next year. Giedo could be one of them.
 
I've no idea how much backing Giedo comes with, but if he's getting more drives than Rossi then I would guess he's got more money, so they're keen to get his sponsors on the car. Kovalainen and Massa to swap seats?

Otherwise, I can't see where Kovalainen could really go. Force India will stick with their drivers unless one is poached, Sauber have Guttierrez (sp?) they probably want to get in the car to keep the Mexican sponsorship deals, or Jaime is lurking there too. Williams seem keen to get Bottas in a seat, and Kovalainen doesn't come with enough money to replace Senna if money was an issue. Toro Rosso will probably stick or bring in their own young guns. Lotus seem set too.
 
SilverArrow said:
Not with those rotating wings by McLaren and Red Bull there not!

Alonso must be thinking 4th-5th is a very likely position this weekend if these front wings are as fantastic as they make out. In this situation I think Alonso would be very happy if he could get 3rd with the upgrades his rivals have got now.

Example before and after Rotating wing for McLaren: Bold = Pole.

Canada to Germany, best results: Can:1st//Val:8th//GB:8th//Ger:2nd
Hungary to Singapore, best results: Hun:1st//Spa:1st//Ita:1st//Sing:2nd

That is a silver bullet if I ever saw one.
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Carrying on from this AmuS report, no changes are needed for these new wings and they have passed the test without any modifications needed to be done.

http://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/...-verbiegen-sich-die-frontfluegel-5820804.html

McLaren + RBR 1,2,3,4 anybody?
 
SilverArrow said:
Carrying on from this AmuS report, no changes are needed for these new wings and they have passed the test without any modifications needed to be done.

http://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/...-verbiegen-sich-die-frontfluegel-5820804.html

McLaren + RBR 1,2,3,4 anybody?
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The more I read up on this issue (here and elsewhere) the more it sounds like sour grapes from Ferrari, they couldn't get thier wings to Flex, so they want the others, that can get theirs working banned!

Appears the FIA couldn't come to the rescue this time!
 
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